


You think there will be no one to stop you. (But I do.)

by failsafe



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Gap Filler, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 18:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/failsafe/pseuds/failsafe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding a life happens in between the important things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You think there will be no one to stop you. (But I do.)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sevenofspade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenofspade/gifts).



> Title from [this](http://asofterworld.com/index.php?id=6) asofterworld comic.

**Monaco**

** A date forgotten, early 2014  
**

 

Roy preferred solo missions now. For a little while, having Aqualad along with him had been something like fun. Back when he'd believed G.A. had a real intention of looking for and finding the real Roy Harper, he'd even started to tolerate him again. And Black Canary was at least honest in her concern. For a while, that'd been okay.

But he couldn't really actually keep living under the delusion that he could trust them. Or, in fact, that they could trust him.

So solo missions it was.

At least, he'd decided that this mission was solo. There was a note left in his stead where he was supposed to be in his hotel room—plush and nice and comfortably cool, though he doubted he'd be sleeping anywhere that nice anytime soon.

_Sorry, B.C. I've got to do this. - R.A._

He did have to because Green Arrow's girlfriend had the same problem _he_ did. She was too reluctant to get things done sometimes, and since he knew that his only real mission was never going anywhere but on his own, he had to get some hours in. He was done going in _completely_ unprepared, and even if he had official League status, technically, they treated him more like the _baby_ mascot than they did the rest of the Team.

Flora was the heiress presumptive to the throne here in Monaco, and she was currently a target. Something about Monaco's status as a tax haven and the world economy—Roy'd only really listened to the Cliff Notes version, gathering what he needed to know. 'World economy,' pretty much tipped him off as to who might be involved—the Shadows. So it was their job to keep an eye on her and the proceedings the following day, only Roy didn't think she was a target anymore—he thought she was a hostage.

He had a feeling and he was going to check it out. Or maybe he just needed a walk, but he didn't care. Excuses were currency in the Justice League.

\- - -

Dropping down from the high window from the orange-glowing landscape of Monaco at night, Red Arrow found himself shrouded in darkness. There were shadows everywhere, and for an instant he wondered if he was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

Then there was the telltale sound of heavy, erratic breathing and right on cue came the equal parts urgent and reluctant cry of a young woman's voice. Then there was a string of whimpered pleas in French, and it only disturbed him when he recognized snatches of it. He'd never tried to learn French that he remembered, so he could only assume it was half-successful Cadmus programming. He tuned it out and tried English.

“Whoever you are, come out,” he ordered, for the person making the Monegasque princess—or whatever her proper title was—cry. “Don't worry. I'm Red Arrow, here on behalf of the Justice League, and I'm not going to hurt you, Flora.”

“And here I thought you weren't a joiner,” came a smooth, purring voice from the shadows.

“You--” Roy replied before he could manage to keep his cool and not grit his teeth.

“We meet again,” Jade answered as she stepped out of the shadows. With a loud thud against the floor, the Monegasque girl fell between them. Roy's eyes immediately focused on the few dark droplets of blood on the floor, and he knew he had to kneel down beside her. He moved, wondering if Jade was taunting him or throwing him a rope—though why she'd do the latter he had no idea. Still, when the girl he was supposed to be protecting was bleeding, he couldn't _do nothing_.

“I've got you,” Roy promised. He didn't know French.

“No, I'm afraid I have you both,” Jade answered, and Roy could have groaned as he felt her blade press right to the skin between the open air and his jugular. He scanned his eyes over Flora, searching for the origin of the blood.

“Are you in the business of torture now?”

“Not today,” Jade sighed. “It's only her arm,” she explained, but only when Roy had already seen for himself. “It's insurance. A _breadcrumb trail._ There's only so far she can get if I inject her with a blood thinner. My sister's not the only one who can shoot.” With that, Jade indicated a short blowgun at her hip.

“That is... a pretty stupid plan. Even for you.”

“It got you, didn't it?”

“There is no way you knew I was coming. We were coming,” Roy tried to correct himself. This was a League responsibility, even if he was taking the methodology into his own hands.

“I know more about you than you think, Broken Arrow.”

Roy's blood ran cold for a moment and he found himself looking up toward Jade, through his sunglasses and from his knees. He hated the way she smiled, so satisfied, but he was still aware of it. He felt the blade lift up from his throat and wondered if he'd forget whatever happened next or if he'd survive to find out. Rather than saying anything, though, Jade just tapped her blade gently to the side of his cheek.

“And see, you hardly know yourself at all...” she pointed out, whining out something that sounded _almost_ like compassion.

Then, her focus shot abruptly upward, over his head and her blade was drawn back, ready for something else. Then there were loud orders being shouted in French outside the door and a very obviously overpowering force banging their way inside.

“You didn't take down the guards,” Roy observed, flatly disbelieving.

“Be quiet,” Jade demanded, and for a moment all he could do was watch the way her throat tensed. He wasn't sure he had ever seen her panic before.

“I've got you,” Roy repeated, trying to draw Flora back toward him, practically gathering her into his laps because the girl was shaking, panicking. No matter how little she was bleeding, it could get dangerous after a while if it didn't clock. Jade had alluded to a blood thinner, but he didn't know if she'd already given it to her or not.

Then there was a heavy crash but not from the door. Boots falling on the floor and Roy looked up only to feel a boot to his temple. He still managed to shield Flora but that was all he became as he lost consciousness.

“Let's go, little girl. You failed, again,” in a familiar voice and a hurried struggle were the last things he heard for a while.

Flora ended up being safe. And in the coming months Roy kind of forgot about her.

\- - -

**Infinity Island**

** 19 days later  
**

 

Walking away from the only thing you had ever known was difficult. It wasn't as if Jade had never done it before, but the stakes were higher this time.

 

  1. She was on an island. That limited her means of escape.

  2. Somewhere else on that island, her father was present and well armed.

  3. There were no fairy tales of freedom on the other side.

  4. She couldn't just disappear. Not really.




 

Four very good reasons not to try her luck.

But as she looked into the mirror—no cat mask, no make-up, just Jade—she held up her fingers and gently pressed them to the purpling bruise along her cheekbone. There was a reason she'd left in the first place.

_Disappear like the Cheshire Cat._

Jade sighed and picked up a little bottle, squeezing out some fluid make-up and spreading it gently across, slowly and thoroughly masking the bruise within her olive skin.

“I'm not going to be like my mother,” she said to the mirror, quietly. She took another deep breath as she stood, gathering her few things from the dresser's surface. “I won't be like my mother.”

It remained a silent mantra in her head as she got up and found a black duffel bag, filling in the contents with everything personal she owned. There were some books left around the room, but the one she didn't leave was a long since stolen copy of _Alice in Wonderland_ that had belonged to her sister. Almost everything else in her bag, if applied in the right way, could be deadly. So, she supposed, could the book if worse came to worst, but she wasn't going to do that. Not to that.

She pulled the only remaining clothes over her underwear and recently showered body. Street clothes. No one would notice her or recognize her if she got off the island—dead or alive.

Finally, she stood perched on the windowsill of her room. It was suicide—suicide for anyone who hadn't been highly trained, anyone who couldn't make the jump to the next roof. She could see the water and smell the Caribbean air from where she stood and for a moment she leaned back—just in case this was it, her time, because she could never really escape and she could only run down the rabbit hole for so long before it consumed her.

“You really think they'll let you go, little girl?”

Jade caught herself, braced herself, but she could hear how close he was. Not close enough to upset her balance, so it was only the sick feeling in the back of her knees that made her feel like she might fall when she looked over the edge. She hated his voice. She'd hated it for years.

“Who said anything about _'let'_?” she retorted—only buying herself time.

“Once a Shadow, always a Shadow. Or... _your mother_ , Little Cat” he answered, and suddenly his voice was a lot closer than it should have been, so near her ear she could feel the vibration. She made a sound with the effort she put into elbowing back into his face, hoping that he wasn't lucky enough to be wearing his mask. The sound he made satisfied her that he wasn't, but she didn't look back as she tossed her bag across the chasm between the window and the rooftop. It rolled down a few feet but then stopped within her reach, so she decided to trust it. “If I _ever_ see you again, you won't enjoy it,” she warned.

And then she took the leap.

\- - -

**(An island off the coast of) Cambodia**

** June, 2014  
**

 

“I really never wanted to see you again,” Roy said, prepared this time when he laid his eyes on Jade Nguyen. Just Jade Nguyen—no Cheshire get up, but he didn't get close enough to smalltalk to ask her why.

“Oh, why so unhappy to see me?” Jade pouted. She tried to move to pout to his face, but the space was closing in as the fire spread through the natural, dried fibers of the structure.

Roy coughed and then decided that he had no real excuse to leave her behind. It would involve trying to kill her.

“The last time I saw you, you nearly killed someone.”

“I _am_ an assassin,” Jade spluttered out as she took a too-smoky, hot breath. “Or, I was.”

“Was?” he asked. “Never mind,” he said, pushing on Jade's shoulder toward the clearest path he saw to the door. Judging by the fire, he wasn't sure it was going to be a door for much longer. “Go!”

“Pushy,” Jade commented, but then she stumbled and then ran toward the door.

Roy came after her with abandon at first, but then he felt the sticky, humid breeze outside that was only slightly cooler than the dry, flame-riddled air inside and he stopped.

“Roy Harper!” Jade called after him with more urgency than he'd ever heard in her tone. It still sounded pretty conversational. But he could hardly hear. A little ember came up and bit the little bit of exposed skin on his forearm and he took a sharp breath in. He had lungs and skin and so many things that needed him to _get out of the fire_ , but he'd failed. Where was he going?

“That's not my name. Doesn't belong to me,” he answered her, not even really _aware_ in the traditional sense that she'd called out for him.

A moment later, he had a faceful of grass and earth. And then a lapful of Jade Nguyen. He wasn't sure if the two had coincided. They'd happened so fast and he was off his game.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“In the neighborhood. But I could ask you the same thing.”

“Getting some perspective.”

“By getting yourself _killed_?”

“That... might be the conclusion of some of my perspective,” Roy managed to bite out of his mouth, grinding his teeth as he glared up into dark brown, nearly black eyes. He'd never really noticed the brown before, but it was broad daylight and something that hardly resembled itself was burning down close enough to them that he could still feel the heat.

\- - -

** Later June, in the middle of the night  
**

“Get in the damn boat!” Roy ordered at the top of his lungs over the roar of the motor.

“I'm getting in your boat. Where did you get this thing?” Jade demanded as she took another leap, right onto the _back_ of the boat rather than into the available seat. She slid along on her stomach and then curled into a ball, taking cover as she heard the rifles being prepared to fire again. If they'd had more sophisticated firepower left, they'd be dead in the water in a minute. “Don't get shot,” she panted.

“Not a rental. And wasn't planning on it. Not today.”

“That's an improvement.”

\- - -

**South China Sea**

“We're almost out of gas and there's not a friendly shore in sight,” Jade observed as she too walked away from the helm across the little space and helped herself to the other half of Roy's blanket he had placed across the floor of the boat. It was a nice boat, but she could still hear the water lapping up against the sides. It wasn't a houseboat, and it just reminded her what a tiny vessel they were, out on the sea.

“Sounds about right,” Roy said. He didn't seem to object when she moved closer because his skin was finally bare of bulletproof covering and still covered in a soft, long-sleeved shirt. It was cold out away from the hot, muggy land. “We could always try your homeland,” he said, lifting up his head to look over at her with a stupid, smug smile.

“Not my home, Broken Boy.”

“Thought it was _'Broken Arrow.'_ ”

“Not anymore. And you were _never broken_ , Roy. You... worked perfectly.”

Roy sat up the rest of the way, shrugging her off abruptly.

“Only _one of us_ has to make it to shore. So, Miss Assassin, which is it going to be?” he asked, snarling back into a mood that scared her a little. Or, it would have, if she really remembered how to be scared of violent men. But he didn't even look at her. She knew it wasn't a real threat, so she tried touching her fingers to the back of his short, fiery hair at the nape of his neck.

“It doesn't matter that you're a clone, Roy. We're all... who they _make us_ to be. Our parents, Cadmus. It's the same... until you walk away. Until you leap. Until you _choose,_ ” Jade droned on. She'd had a lot of time to think about it between the Caribbean and Cambodia.

“Choose what? To be your friend?” Roy asked.

“If you like.” Jade reached up and gripped the back of Roy's shoulders. He was strong. And he'd changed a lot, lately. She'd seen it. And he was the first person she'd seen change in a long, long time.

“And if I don't?” Roy challenged her.

“I think we can do something better than that,” Jade said.

And then she kissed him.

“I'm not the guy you want—“

“You think I want _the original Roy Harper?_ From what I hear, he's dead.”

“ _Don't_ say that,” Roy warned.

“I don't know where he is. I don't know who he is. But you know I want you...”

“So?”

“It seems we've figured one another out. Isn't that how your _friends_ help each other?”

“Haven't seen any of them lately.”

“Then let me be.”

“... Okay,” Roy agreed. “Maybe.”

“Maybe's enough for now,” Jade agreed as she tugged Roy back down onto the blanket, curling closer to him without any real intent, just pleased enough when he came. There would be more time for other things later when she knew when or if they'd be getting a full meal again. “At least until we find shore...”

“I can work with that,” Roy said with a nod as he looked back at her.

“Really?”

“Maybe. Figure it out when we find shore.”

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to go with your Roy/Jade prompt and I considered doing the circumstances under which they got married, but my muse just carried me along to do a different part of the development of their relationship. I hope you enjoy it! I really enjoyed all of your YJ prompts and it was so difficult to choose.


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